Just a simple prisoner transport
by JustAWriterWannaBe
Summary: It happens every day. Nothing special. But today, the moon and stars lined up to give Kate Beckett a longer day than she expected. Light and fluffy. 99%


_**Author's Notes:**_

Not a freakin' clue why I'm doing this. I have much more important things to do including a story that's sat for over a year since I've last updated it. Yes, I'm still trying with that one. :(

Dedicated to our protectors behind the badge. Thank you for _your_ oath.

* * *

"Just a simple prisoner transport."

* * *

Chapter Posted: Jan 2015; WC: ~21k  
 _ **Story Notes:**_

Occurs some time after they're "out" but probably before they're married.

I enjoy exploring the hidden side of some of these characters. From what I've seen, I always think Kate Beckett, woman of steel, actually hates being in any sort of spotlight and would just as soon blend in when in a crowd instead of being recognized as herself much less to be identified as Nikki Heat. This incorrect identification, I think, would fill her with a strange dichotomy of feelings. Hating being seen as merely as this fictitious character but being so very protective of Nikki and Castle's work as to bear the mantle with a strange pride and vigilance of responsibility.

* * *

0800 Hours

It's a new day at the NYPD twelfth precinct on the homicide floor. "Good morning Beckett." she hears Ryan call out in greeting as she exits the elevator heading for her desk. "You ready for another exciting day of paperwork?" he says faking enthusiasm.

Putting her things down on her desk she offers a gentle confession "Y'know Kev, I'd almost like to trade with Espo."

With a teasing edge to his voice he asks "Is it that bad without your shadow?" his bottom lip exaggeratedly extended while pouting.

"What? That I'd rather be in court testifying against another low-life instead of in here shuffling papers and trying to avoid paper cuts? The boredom is the worst part of this." Beckett says while putting her bag away and turning on her computer. Then more quietly. "Truth be told? Yes it is. Aside from everything else, I sleep lousy, without..."

"How much longer has he got?" Ryan asks idly as he continues doing his own work without looking up.

Brightening slightly she sighs "Only a couple of days." trying to hide her eagerness for those days to fly by as she sits down.

Captain Gates strides over to her desk with a folder in her hand. "Detective Beckett and Detective Ryan" she states smartly getting their attention. "You two are to report to LaGuardia to accept and escort a prisoner transport arriving from a federal facility in the mid-west. Here's the paperwork." she states handing it to Beckett. "Should be a simple and routine transfer."

"Will do Sir." Beckett acknowledges compliance while taking the papers from her. "May I ask how we drew the short straw on this?" she queries. "Doesn't the marshals service handle it all with a couple of uni's normally?"

"They don't want to this time, they say it's higher profile and they want someone more senior there on our end." then her hard veneer cracks a little as she says with a smirk "You lost the coin toss." as she turns heading back to her office.

Beckett sighs with resignation and flips open the folder.

"What's the deal Beckett?" Ryan asks her, his head and attention still buried in his own work.

"Weird case this one." she mumbles a little while reading the paperwork. "Small time white collar crime... Kid ran a... small identity theft ring... from his dorm room. Bad attitude. Rotten disposition and ... get this... suspected of murdering a half dozen guys from a biker gang. We have to deliver him to Rikers'."

"When?" Ryan asks beginning to close up his work on his desk.

Looking at the paperwork then her watch "Scheduled to arrive at nine. We've got less than an hour. Let's get going."

"You sign out the tasers and I'll get our vests." he tells her as he heads for the locker room.

* * *

0915 Hours

"I wouldn't mind so much if we hadn't made a point of trying to get here in record time." Ryan grouses as they walk slowly through the concourse.

"Don't I know it." Kate sighs back. "Why's it always seem to be 'Hurry-up and wait.' with these things?" she asks rhetorically to express her frustration. "Well, at least they said it shouldn't be too long, might as well hang out here." she finally decides as they arrive at the waiting area for the gate. "Explain to me how this works again?" She asks her partner and screwing up her face knowing she probably still won't understand the weird logic involved.

Ryan, pleased to exercise his geek cred goes into an explanation. "Sort of like this. The plane is to arrive here but they don't have a slot for it to go into until a plane that's here can leave and since the hub of the traffic for this airline is Chicago and they're having a freak storm, no one can take off so they can't clear the slot for our plane to come in." As he finishes Ryan spots a twin row of back-to-back seats next to the main walkway and parks himself on the side facing away from the concourse and towards the windows.

Beckett plops herself down a couple of seats over. "Sounds as convoluted as our office politics." She sighs as she stretches like a lazy cat and takes a pose as if she's preparing for a siesta on a hot day with her legs stretched way out in front of her and crossed at the ankles, arms crossed over her vest and her chin resting on her chest. She sighs and closes her eyes. She never sleeps well without Castle at home and "A little rest now would be a very good thing." she thinks to herself.

The waiting area is lit mostly by the light coming in the windows and there's only a few other people there all of whom seem to be lost in their own bubbles. It's not too busy but more and more people are showing up as time passes. Because they are both wearing protective vests that say NYPD along with the windbreakers and Ryan's NYPD ball-cap. They stand out from the crowd and it causes most of the new arrivals in the area to naturally migrate away from where they are.

Ryan passes time just reading one of the random magazines he's found on a seat. Absorbed in the little world of the magazine he doesn't really notice the new arrivals to the seats on the back side of their row of seats.

* * *

0930 Hours

A group of seven women, quickly assessed by Ryan out of the corner of his eye as seniors on an excursion, arrive and sit on the chairs that are behind them chattering away energetically about something.

Slowly Beckett and Ryan start to pick up parts of the conversations that these women are having. They are a group of members of a "murder book club" going on a "Murder weekend adventure" and are enthusiastically discussing the steps required to solve a crime and one case in particular.

Ryan is the first to notice that the conversation contains familiar points drawing his attention out of his magazine and covertly glancing around to assess what's going on around him.

Beckett's eyes snap open and she suddenly reaches over and grabs Ryan's ball-cap off his head, puts it on herself and pulls it low trying to hide.

Ryan's amusement is well hidden except for his eyes. His eyes are laughing loudly at her discomfort and she knows it.

* * *

0936 Hours

Ryan then realizes they're specifically discussing a Nikki Heat case from Castle's last book and the case is based on a real one that they worked. Beckett is glaring at Ryan out of the corner of her eye trying to not be noticed by the women but at the same time to impart to him the wisdom of not letting on who they are, or more specifically, who _she_ is.

At one point one of the women pulls out the book in question and flips to a page to read out loud a procedural point as explained in the text.

Excited conversation ensues over this copy of the book because this is her cherished copy autographed by the author. She tells how her daughter stood in line for over two hours to get it for her as a mother's day gift. This reveal makes Kate suck in a breath and blink away familiar tears of emotion and smile at the thought of someone else getting such enjoyment from Rick's books. Rick's books about _her_ she thinks warmly with a small smile and the familiar tightening in her throat.

They return to the point of the original discussion and another small disagreement arises over the interpretation of the procedure just explained and how it applies.

* * *

0951 Hours

After listening to a full fifteen minutes of impassioned but unproductive debate on the subject by these women, Ryan decides he's had enough and without turning around announces that the correct procedure isn't as described in Castle's book but is actually slightly different. All the time Beckett is furiously whispering "Nononononono" and wincing as if in pain.

Ryan turns to face them with his NYPD windbreaker on and begins to explain in detail, including how Raley's explanation in the book was accidentally trimmed by the editors making the procedure not quite correct, what the correct procedure really is, why it's done that way and some implications of the differences between reality and Castle's world.

"Damn but he does love flying his geek flag." Kate thinks to herself almost as if it was a curse.

At this point Beckett closes her eyes waiting for the inevitable and groans under her breath "Sorry Jenny. No jury in the world will convict me."

A number of "How do you know?" and "Who are you?" questions are asked. Mumbles of surprise are uttered by the members of the group when he proudly introduces himself as NYPD Detective Kevin Ryan and the woman with the book makes a sound of recognition, flips to the acknowledgements and announces "Oh my god, he's Raley!" earning him a number of coos and clucks about meeting someone so famous.

A lot of "Did you work with Castle on this case?" questions are asked and careful explanations provided that _they_ don't work _with_ Castle, he works _with them_. A great number of the fine points of the process of the investigation, discovery, theory building and then subsequent apprehension of a perp such as was done in this case is discussed between Ryan and the women while Beckett is wondering if she can sneak away without being seen.

* * *

1002 Hours

All the time the members of this group of women, keep glancing at the back of this other person with Ryan, growing more and more curious about who she might be.

As she begins to think that maybe Ryan will keep them occupied enough to avoid her being recognized her phone rings and she grabs it quickly and answers it without looking at the caller I-D. She puts it to her ear whispering "Hello?" hoping that no one will bother her now that she's on the phone.

It's Castle taking a break at his signing and he cheerfully begins to chatter on about something, happily causing her to momentarily forget her current impending predicament and she smiles and begins to relax. Then at one point he makes some risqué innuendo about what he wants to do to her when he gets back from his book tour. Realizing how distracted she is and how this really isn't the time for this conversation, Kate admonishes him, not nearly as quietly as she'd wanted, "Castle, not now." only to close her eyes realizing she's given away the game. Quietly she sighs saying "Rick, I'm going to have to call you back." She hangs up the phone and silently counts to herself. "3...2...1"

"Oh my god! You're Detective Kate Beckett the real Nikki Heat!" gets announced by a couple of the women who walked around the seats to get a better look at her. Their pronouncement, being done none too quietly, draws even more attention from a number of the passengers around them in the waiting area making Kate cringe internally even more.

Even after all this time, she still finds it embarrassing to be publicly recognized as her alter ego.

* * *

1007 Hours

Kate slowly sits up all the while glaring at a mischievously grinning Ryan and quietly says to him "Traffic Detail" while she puts on her public face and turns to greet the women.

The ladies in the group proceed to surround her and ask her lots of questions ranging from how difficult it is to be a woman cop to procedural questions involved in some of her more public cases to extremely personal questions about her and Rick's lives together. Some of them even ask frivolous questions about hair care and clothing choices making Kate realize how Castle feels when this sort of thing happens to him.

They explain that they're part of a book club at their local library and have formed a team that is going to compete at a murder weekend adventure. They even show off their tee-shirts that are proudly emblazoned with "Homicide Hens Squad" as their team nickname with a drawing of a hen with a magnifying glass and a deer-stalker hat.

She takes a moment to glance at Ryan who's grinning like a fool, having just taken yet another picture with his phone of her with the group and she quietly says "Forget traffic, cold storage evidence locker inventory."

For the next hour or so Kate is the center of attention, feeling somewhat cornered, even in this large space, with people asking her questions and complementing her on things like the sex scenes in the books. As time progressed she feels a bit more in control and consents to a few photos being taken with these enthusiastic fans.

She gives some autographs, signing random pieces of paper for these ladies, smiling and pleasant but trying to glare at Ryan every time she sees him raising his phone for yet another candid shot of her. She turns away from the others and whispers to the woman who has the autographed book that it was her mother who got her into these books and how she found great comfort in them after her mother was taken. She offers this woman an autograph along side Rick's which is happily agreed to.

After turning back to the rest of the group, she tries encouraging these women to quiz Ryan on how Castle portrays Raley in the books and causing a couple of them to get his autograph too. Gushing with excitement, the women invite her to their book club and even to come with them on their weekend adventure which she politely declines. Repeatedly. Forcefully.

Finally an airport police officer comes over and wades through the small sea of gray hair around her to tell her and Ryan that the plane they're waiting for is landing and will be approaching the gate momentarily. She says her goodbyes to all the ladies and thanks everyone for their well-wishes but encourages them to keep their seats and stay where they are, her and Detective Ryan have to get back to work.

* * *

1113 Hours

Another couple of airport cops show up and the five go to the gate door waiting for it to open. She takes the opportunity during this lull in activities to give Ryan back his hat with a slightly greater than needed effort to push it on to his head. Saying "Thanks for the hat, turncoat! Let me make sure its on tight, don't want it getting blown off in all this wind." with a grin.

The door opens and two exhausted and harried but serious looking federal marshals appear holding onto the prisoner who's in chains but not yet had his leg-irons reattached and a bright orange D-O-C jumpsuit. Murmuring can be heard from the crowd behind Beckett and Ryan at this sight.

As the marshals step forward towards where Beckett is standing, the prisoner, a tall lanky kid, lunges forward breaking free of their grip knocking one marshal into Ryan and causing Kate to be the one left to deftly grab him by his jumpsuit collar and flip him onto the floor landing him onto his face eliciting a loud _"oofh!"_ from him by driving her knee into his shoulder pinning him down leaving no room for doubt of who is in charge. This action is met with raucous cheers, whoops and applause from the onlookers further embarrassing Kate.

The marshals humiliated at having been taken by surprise regain their composure quickly and take hold of the prisoner from Beckett. When she finally stands up with her back to the crowd she looks at Ryan, silently challenging him with a glare to say anything, he just smiles and nods his head towards the crowd behind her who are all snapping photos of her and applauding, led front and center by the members of the Homicide Hens Squad.

She looks at Ryan who's taking yet another photo of her with the audience behind her. She looks at him with another fierce and narrow eyed glare and growls "After cold storage, you get the Macy's parade too. Both of them." in another failed attempt to intimidate him.

After putting the prisoner's leg-irons back on and he is returned to the vertical. The two groups, the NYPD cops and the marshals exchange paperwork, some signatures and then the five turn to start for the exit escorted by the three airport police. The loud chatter coming from the group of women continues and Kate finally sighs and gives in. "Gimme a sec guys." she says to her group as she walks over to the women in the book club pulling a small slip of paper from her pocket.

The airport cops and the marshals ask Ryan what's going on and he glibly tosses "Her adoring fans." over his shoulder to them as she comes back to the confused looks from the others and a goofy grin from her partner.

* * *

1124 Hours

"You did it didn't you?" he asks with a silly knowing grin, laughter just below the surface as their group begins to move towards the exit again.

"Shut up." she snaps still trying to sounds mad.

"I can't wait to tell Jenny." he giggles.

"Put a sock in it flat-foot" she snaps unable to fight back a smile.

"You did do it didn't you. You gave them his agent's card so they can get the next book." he states plainly.

"Hey what's going on with you two?" the baby-faced prisoner interjects. Then leering up and down at Kate "Are you someone famous? Miss July maybe?"

Ryan, quickly trips the kid so the marshals have to twist his arms again to hold him up and Ryan smacks him off the head with his hat. "Shuddup dirtbag."

Smiling Beckett gives him an elbow nudge. "Thanks Kev."

"You're welcome." he answers warmly. Then glares at the prisoner who's looking around again "Eyes front Dirtbag!" he says loudly.

Kate says authoritatively. "It's okay Ryan." and then raises her voice a bit more and wearing that withering look she's so skilled at giving says "I think he'll behave now and stop acting out."

Then a second later, Ryan quietly says to Kate "You _know_ I'm tellin' Javi and you-know-who too." with a smirk.

"I don't doubt it." she groans with acceptance. "Lanie's going to be downright insufferable."

He opens his mouth to speak and she raises her hand in a halt motion while shaking her head stopping him. "Don't. He probably knows already." she says just as her phone rings. "See, I don't even have to look and I know it's him." she says with a smirk as she pulls the phone out and swipes the answer button. "Hi Rick." she smiles as they exit the terminal and head for their car.

"I thought I turned off the caller I-D for this call." Castle says slightly bewildered.

Smiling bashfully she tucks an errant curl behind her ear with her other hand "I didn't even look. I knew it was you."

"Ryan's turned into quite the candid photographer for you." he smirks knowing he's turning the heat up on Ryan.

"Oh reeeaaalllyyyy? _Quite_ the photographer?" she asks drawing it out and glaring at Ryan who turns back to face forward and begins to innocently fake whistle as if he's completely unaware of what's going on. Still glaring at him she tells Castle "Yeah, so Foot-Patrol Officer Ryan here can fill you in on the rest of the story to go with those photos the next time we all get together."

Sounding happy to be talking to her he has to get the details. "So who were those women? It looks like you're at the airport, did they just bump into you?"

"Yes, they're in a book group who call themselves 'The Marlow Murder Mavens'"

"As in Philip Marlowe?"

"No, Marlow as in Marlow Municipal Library" she corrects. "They're going on a Murder Weekend Adventure. They formed a team and call themselves 'the Homicide Hens Squad'."

"Adorable! Was that the tee-shirt they were holding up for you?" he asks while scrolling through the pictures again.

"Hmmm" she hums in acknowledgment. "Quite a cute thing."

"Should we send..." he starts as she cuts him off smiling "Already gave them Paula's card."

Chuckling with her he says "That's great. Were they the reason you cut me off earlier?"

"Yes, things were going smoothly" she begins to explain normally and then raises her voice while glaring at Ryan "except for our own chatty Cathy who _just had_ to engage them about the procedures in the book including that typo that got left in." then resuming her normal voice and smiling a bit shyly "When you called me and... umm..."

Whispering he adds "Told you all the deliciously naughty..."

" _YES!_ " she says cutting him off and blushing and admonishing him "Not the time."

"Okay, well call me later when it _is_ the time and we can negotiate... Wow! Nice take down!" he exudes suddenly. "Very well done."

"What take down?" she asks not sure if they're talking about the same thing.

"Don't be coy Kate, check the twitter feed for hashtag AwesomeNikkiHeat." he scolds.

"Oh god no." she murmurs covering her forehead with her hand as they arrive at the cruiser.

"Hey, wanna see the video of that take down?" Ryan asks holding up his phone with one hand while unlocking the car with the other.

Castle can overhear the excited Ryan on the other end "Tell him whoever did it did a good job, it's an awesome action shot." he says laughing.

"No Rick. I won't tell him that. It'll just encourage him. Listen, we're at the car, I've got to go." she tells him smiling and twirling that same errant lock of hair around her finger.

"Okay babe. You should call Paula to let her know what went on." he instructs.

"I figured I'd call her as soon as we get in the car. She made it clear last time that she just needs to know it happened and she'll decide if its important."

"Right, I'd tell her but she's off..." he pauses as he looks around "somewhere, don't know where and I have fans waiting."

"I didn't know she went on this trip. Yeah, fill her in please. That'll save me the call and more looks from the Commander of the Cold Storage Evidence Locker here." she says still trying to glare at Ryan.

"No can do." he cracks. "She flew in for a visit and is flying out in a couple of hours she said. I don't know if I'll have the chance and while I can tell her assistant, I'd rather you talk to her directly."

"That's fine. That's why I gave her card to the Homicide Hens. They seemed to be pretty hardcore groupies and I thought a few copies of your next book could go their way if that's alright with you."

Turning quiet and earnest now, she can almost see him turning towards the wall and cupping his hand around his mouth and face to talk directly into the phone "Kate. How many times do I have to tell you. Of course it is alright with me. It is not _my_ book," he says with special emphasis "it's _our_ books and it is _our_ business, you have complete power to hand them out as you see fit."

Smiling wide and blushing a little she gets into the passenger's side of Ryan's cruiser "Thanks babe. It's still strange." she says as the marshals tightly bookend the prisoner in the backseat, she reaches for her seat belt and Ryan gets behind the wheel.

"Okay oh detective of mine. The fans await. Next time I check on your tattoo I may try to remind you about who's books these really are." he smirks as she can hear him getting up and walking.

"Castle!" she snaps trying to not sound too obvious.

"Mom? Is Dad getting frisky with you on the phone again?" Ryan teases laughing as he pulls out of the parking lot and into traffic.

"Okay, go talk to your fans, I'm going to sign Ryan up for a month of traffic court duty when we get back to the station." she says as she closes the call.

"Castle?" the prisoner says suddenly attentive "Are you Nikki Heat?" he yells enthusiastically trying to lean forward causing Ryan to erupt in a fit of laughter.

She whacks Ryan on the arm as he reaches in with his right hand and pulls out his phone still laughing furiously. As they stop at a red light, a quick thumb swipe and he puts the phone to his ear as she rolls her eyes at what she knows is coming.

"Javi. Dude! As soon as you're finished there, you have _got_ to call me, you're gonna love this story about Beckett!" prompting her to yank his hat off his head and start lightly whacking his arm with it until the light turns green again.

"So you _are!_ You're Nikki Heat!" the guy sputters. "I'm a big fan! We have all your books in our cell-block. We had to replace Naked Heat 'cause one of the guys drew something dirty in it. They put him in the infirmary until the new copy arrived." he gushes prompting Ryan to laugh even more and the two marshals just look between themselves incredulously.

"Seriously?" One of the marshals, obviously the more senior one, asks staring daggers at their prisoner. "You talk smack _non-stop_ to _anyone_ and _everyone_ for the _entire_ five hour flight out here and you suddenly go all fan-girly because you think she's some fictional character?"

"I'm telling _you!_ " the prisoner says still excitedly bouncing up and down in his seat as much as he can while sandwiched by the two feds. Affecting a deep announcer's voice he says "NYPD Detective Katherine Beckett is the real-life inspiration for Richard Castle's heroine Nikki Heat!" then he adds "NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads."

The two marshals look at each other then look over at the back of Kate's head and she's biting her lip trying desperately to not react while staring out the window. When Ryan sees her face then their faces in the rear-view mirror he begins to laugh hysterically again. As he catches his breath he tells them "Yes, that's her." to which she drops her face into her hands groaning "Will this day _ever_ end?"

"My sister reads that crap..." The junior marshal starts to say and is suddenly cut off by a dragon breathing fire who just snapped around at him from her front seat position with her seat-belt stretched tight and a fierce fire in her eyes staring him down. Through gritted teeth, and punctuated by poking her finger in his direction at each word, she sternly says "It. Is. Not. Crap." to Ryan's continued giggles. This junior marshal starts to open his mouth and she holds no truck with it. "Don't you _dare_ say another word until we get to the prison." she warns pointing her finger at his face prompting him, now straining backwards into his seat, to glance to his partner with a wide-eyed terrified look.

"Don't look at me, you opened your mouth." the other one says while the prisoner keeps bouncing up and down and in a sing-song says "I got tackled by Nikki Heat! This is so awesome! The guys are going to be soooo jealous!"

Chewing on her lip and looking out the window she curses herself for getting out of bed. When she looks back, over towards the other side of the car, she sees Ryan's phone on the dash over to his left. Not a usual place for him to leave it.

"Ryan?"she asks hesitantly.

"Yes Beckett?"

"Why's your phone over there?" she asks as a sinking feeling takes over her.

"Oh it was just easier then putting it back in my pocket while you were trying to pummel me." he says trying to sound convincing.

She continues to stare at him and sees his eye twitch in her direction. "You _little jerk_! You're _recording_ this?!" she yells at him.

"No! I'd never do such a thing!" he responds indignantly asking "What do you think I am?" with an angry sounding edge to it.

"A little weasel who's desperate to use Castle's Ferrari! That's who I think you are!" she snaps, folding her arms across her chest and sitting back in her seat knowing there's nothing she can do about it now and reminding herself it is mostly harmless fun.

"Don't worry, it's just for Castle." he soothes reaching over and pressing the button on his phone to turn it off. "There. Happy now?"

Ryan hears a bit of mumbling from Kate "What's that you said?" he asks leaning towards her.

"I _said_ " she repeats full of resignation, "I think I know what Castle feels like when we all gang up on him."

"Oh too bad I turned off the recorder before you said that." he smirks. "Care to repeat it?"

As the gate at Rikers' prison comes into view Kate sighs with deep relief, "There's the front gate. I can finally be put out of my misery."

"Are you guys _always_ like this?" the "good" marshal asks.

"Yes" "No" they both answer at the same time prompting him to look at his partner then skyward.

As they park the car and open the doors for the marshals, the prisoner gets out carefully. Straightening up he slowly reaches out with his cuffed hands and takes Kate's hand in his. "It was a real pleasure to meet you. Sorry about making you tackle me and sorry about the Miss July crack." he says earnestly and politely.

Unsure of what to say she just says "Thank you." and lets go of his hand as the two marshals turn him towards the door. She can hear one of the marshals saying "Man I need a stiff drink after this trip."

"Giggles!" Beckett yells out without turning back towards her partner. "Get the paperwork and meet us inside." she says and then strides into the office with as much dignity as she can muster.

* * *

1313 Hours

"Hi, we've got a federal prisoner transfer here." One of the marshals announces to the guy behind the glass.

The prisoner, as much as he can, turns his head towards Beckett who took up position just behind him and the marshal. "Seriously, thanks. Since this whole nightmare has started meeting you has been the only pleasant thing that's happened to me." he says with a calm earnestness that takes Kate by surprise. Looking down he quietly says. "No one cares or believes me but just so you know." raising his gaze to meet her's once more "I didn't have anything to do with those murders. My lawyer screwed me." he says lowering his eyes again and turning forward full of resignation.

Boxing that information away for the moment Kate turns and heads to a more secluded corner of the room, pulls out her phone and does a couple of quick swipes then puts it to her ear.

"Paula Hass" the voice comes from the other side.

"Hi Paula, Kate Beckett..." is all she gets out before the human dynamo takes off. "Kate! I love that video. Very impressive. Ricky told me that there were some other photos taken around the same time, would you mind if I reviewed them so we can add to our stock for you?"

Wincing and pinching the bridge of her nose as if it will stave off the headache she feels is coming Kate explains "Paula, I haven't seen the video myself. I don't know what photos were taken or anything. I'm under the impression that Rick's seen them. I'll talk to him tonight about it and we can see what we have to work with. I just wanted to tell you what went on so you're aware."

"Kate, I wish I could get even one more client to behave so reasonably, you're a dream." she says just before the prisoner begins shouting in the background. "What's that?" Paula's voice can be heard from the phone as she takes it away from her ear a bit to pay attention to what's going on at the other side of the room.

"Hang on Paula." Kate snaps into the phone as she storms over to where the prisoner and marshals are.

 _ **"Hey!"**_ she yells at him and sticking a finger in his face. " _ **Cut it out!**_ " Now that she has his attention she speaks in a moderate tone "You came in here acting like a reasonable adult after being nice to me and now you're doing _this_?" she scolds like a teacher taming a room of kids.

"I'm sorry Detective." he says calming down and relaxing his arms.

Sternly she leans in to look him in the eyes "Look, I know this is unpleasant and not what you were looking forward to in life but man-up. You got yourself into this and it can either go easy or go hard and quite frankly, no matter what you choose it's going to happen so the smartest thing you can do is make the best of it." then she quietly puts her hand on his shoulder and says "Go for the easy choice. You'll find your life is better for it. Maybe not ideal but definitely better."

Sighing deeply. He looks down, almost ashamed. "Okay Detective Beckett. I'm sorry." and he looks at the marshal on his other side. "I'm sorry, I'll do as you ask."

Softening her voice a little she tells him "Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry but I've got to finish this call. I'll talk to you before we leave okay?"

"Yes. Thank you." he says calmly.

"Okay. Good." she then nods to the wide-eyed marshals and puts her phone back to her ear and walks over to where she was. Realizing she forgot to hit 'hold' she starts "Sorry Paula..."

"Sorry my ass!" she exclaims "That was incredible! Was that the guy you tackled earlier?" the agent asks enthusiastically.

Using her most even voice she tells her. "Yes, that's him. He's a prisoner transfer from a federal facility." A breathy "Wow" is all she hears from the other side so she continues. "Myself and Detective Ryan were in the waiting area at LaGuardia to escort this prisoner and the federal marshals into a facility here in New York. There was a delay on the arrival so Detective Ryan and I sat in the arrivals lounge expecting it to be only a few minutes. During our time there, before the flight arrived, I got... um..." she hesitates.

"Recognized." Paula says, the smile coming through the phone. "Someone _recognized_ you."

"Yes, and Rick is going to have a field day with this at my expense. Anyway, the women who recognized me and took most of the pictures were from a library book group who were going to a murder weekend adventure thing and had Rick's books..."

At this Paula interrupts again "Yours too Kate."

Kate sighs "Castle's been telling stories I see. Okay, they had _our_ books so we did a few photos and autographs and we both spent some time chatting about being a detective. There's a photo that Ryan took, I think he took a lot of them, but there's one that shows their tee-shirt for a little team they organized for their murder weekend adventure and they call themselves the Homicide Hens Squad."

Paula bubbles on the other end "Oh god that's cute! What sort of age group were they?"

"Seniors, probably all retired and a couple that just retired I'd bet. Spry and bright too. They had some good and astute questions about the process and understood what we were saying. I gave them your card thinking a sprinkling of the next book might be good."

With her funny voice and cute lisp she sounds jolly as she tells her "Kate, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I didn't like you so much I could hate you. You're wonderful. Oh! Hey!..." she says pausing "I just got some more of those photos from Ricky. Oh yes, they're great!" the little woman says obviously flipping through the photos "My god you're photogenic." she mumbles offhandedly making Kate blush again, closing her eyes and leaning forward putting her head against the wall feeling defeated. "Hey wait!" Paula says excitedly "I think... Looks like someone's putting them on their Facebook feed. Yes. I can see Detective Ryan in the background. Excellent. I'll follow up with them."

"That's great Paula. Thanks for handling it for us." she says calmly realizing this one little thing is actually going as she expected today.

"You're welcome Kate! Tell Detective Ryan he's covered too in case he worries. I'll also notify the NYPD chief's office and the publicity office so they know..." her voice suddenly sounding serious the agent asks "Kate? I'm looking at one of Detective Ryan's pictures, what's that vest you're wearing? Is that a bullet proof vest? It seems out of place in a public setting like that."

Smiling she explains "No Paula not bullet-proof, it's a protective vest but it's for close quarters protection, it deflects knives and hard blows. Those yellow handled weapons you see us wearing are tasers, we try to go for the non-lethal in a setting like this but we also try to protect ourselves."

"Ah good. That's good to know. I wasn't aware." Paula says partially to herself before continuing "Okay Kate, if you have any concerns call me. I'll get to work on this to make sure things continue to spin in our favor."

"Thanks Paula. I appreciate it."

Her voice suddenly turning reserved and even more serious, Paula asks hesitantly, "Ummm... Kate, can I ask you... something?"

"Sure, of course."

"Hmm... It just occurred to me... Ummm... How to put this... Is... Is that guy you were just yelling at _dangerous_?"

Smiling at the realization that this might just be the first view into the world Kate lives in she explains "He could be. His sheet says he's involved in some murders of some bike gang members. He's in shackles and leg irons and his hands are chained to his feet and he's wearing a restraint belt all the chains connect to." As she finishes she can hear Paula's startled breathing on the other end. "Paula? It's really okay. There's two of us here armed and controlling him and the two marshals always have a hand on him." she says reassuringly.

"Is this something you do a lot?" Paula asks almost breathlessly sounding more like a kid asking Santa if his beard is real then the human hurricane she normally is.

"Not much anymore. I used to do it a fair amount when I was in uniform before I became a detective. This was different because he's a high profile case and the feds wanted someone senior on the team."

"But you _yelled_ at him." she states disbelievingly. "Aren't you worried..." she trails off.

Smiling, Kate tells her "It's a control thing. Part of it requires that I know what my limits are. It also helps that I treated him fairly and he could see I meant what I said. The only thing that really worries me right now is that I get to call my dad before he sees that video and freaks out."

"Detective Beckett?" she hears a gentle call from across the room. "I have to leave now." the prisoner says meekly. She holds up a finger asking the others to wait a moment before taking him away.

"Paula? I'm sorry to cut this short. I have to go talk to this guy. I told him we could talk before he leaves." Kate says straightening up and turning towards the others as she begins to walk forward slowly.

"Ahhh... Yeah, sure Kate." Paula says sounding like she got snapped out of a dream. "You go do... _that_. I'll talk to Ricky." she says before simply ending the call.

Beckett looks at her phone humorously, shakes her head and pockets it. She strides over to where the marshals are with the prisoner. One is answering his phone and walking away while the other is just holding onto the prisoner. Giving him a nod he lets go of the prisoner and leaves her alone with him for a moment.

"Thank you Detective." he says shyly.

She pulls out her pen and note pad. She writes something, tears the page off, folds it, and leans in to put it in his pocket with a smile.

"What's that?" he asks trying to see it.

"It's something I want you to remember." she says as she opens it for him to see. "The first thing I wrote was 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.' and the second is a quote that's more personal and more important to me, it's 'Vincit omnia veritas' which is Latin that means 'truth conquers all' and lastly..." she smirks and crinkling her nose a little with a friendly smile "is my autograph for you."

"Gee Thanks Detective. Oh, who said that thing in Latin, some old and very wise guy I assume?" he asks playfully, his youthful naiveté about what lies ahead for him showing.

"No, a very wise _woman_. My late mother." she says gently as she folds it and puts it in his pocket again. "Now. You have my attention. Give me the short version of your story." she asks straightening up and looking relaxed as if she has all the time in the world.

Shocked, he looks at her stunned that anyone's even bothered to ask him. "Wha..."

"You said you were innocent. Tell me why I should believe you." she states flatly clearly indicating he has only one chance to not disappoint her.

He lets out a pent up sigh realizing anything but the truth might cost him more. "Yes. I stole those people's identities. I put a cheap skimmer thing on the A-T-M in my dorm. Yes. I had some fun at other people's expense. I admit to that. I was _really_ stupid and I'm really sorry for the trouble it caused."

"And the biker gang?" she asks curtly, trying to maintain the air of trust and honesty between them.

For the first time he looks like a truly scared little boy. "My..." he starts and hesitates.

"Go ahead. This is just between you and me." she encourages.

He turns his head slightly and looks straight ahead as if just staring through her arm, the wall of the building and beyond, his gaze becoming almost vacant. "The lawyer said he'd take my case for free. He worked for the father of one of the kids in my dorm. They'd been questioning me for about fifteen hours when he interrupted them. I was _so_ scared. He negotiated a plea deal for me. I thought it was on the identity theft thing. I didn't think to read it, I was too scared. Later on I found out I'd confessed to being part of that killing." He looks at her pleadingly "Detective, I've _never_ been to Arizona. Never!" tears well up in his eyes and she can see the terror unmasking the raw truth in him. "I went to college in my hometown in Ohio and the first time I left the state was when they put me in that federal facility."

Nodding her head she scribbles something else on the notepad, tears it off and folds it up and puts it in his pocket with the first one.

"What's that?" he asks haltingly with his voice cracking.

"The address for a group I want you to contact. They're called 'The Justice Initiative'. Tell them your story. Because the case started outside of my jurisdiction and has reached the federal level I can't look into it for you but they can." Then she tells him quietly, "My mother helped start that organization. If you're _truly_ innocent of those charges, they" she pauses, raises her index finger and looks him squarely in the eyes to emphasize the point, _"possibly_ might be able to help you but only if you are completely honest and open with them."

A telltale tear slips from his eye "Thank you." he chokes out.

Quietly she tells him "I want you to make an effort. Learn and better yourself. Your life isn't over, just different. You have a chance not many people ever get. The time and ability to learn from your mistakes and choices. To improve yourself and possibly help others avoid the same things." she says as she extends her hand to shake his as best he can.

"Thank you Detective. It's been a long time since anyone talked nice to me. You gave me something to think about," then grinning mischievously "and something to brag about." Looking down at his hands in chains he sighs "I can't guarantee what will come of it but... I heard you. I'll try." he says finally looking at her.

"That's all anyone can ask."

"I have to go. Thank you. For everything." he says as he nods to the marshal behind her.

As one marshal comes back to where they are and takes his arm she heads back to where Ryan is and notices that the other, the senior marshal, is still across the room with his back turned to them and having a somewhat animated but unintelligible argument on the phone. "You're _joking_!" he says loudly followed by "You _can't_ be serio..." then suddenly he straightens up "Yes ma'am." he snaps "No ma'am. Yes ma'am. I will ma'am. Right away ma'am." before he puts his phone in his pocket, hangs his head, and his shoulders slump. Shaking his head disbelievingly he turns around he heads over to where Beckett and Ryan are standing together. His partner, holding the prisoner looks like he's about to ask him what's going on when the marshal sighs, pulls out his notebook, flips it open, holds it out in front of him and and says to Beckett "My boss would like it if she could get your autograph for her nephew Edward who's a huge fan." the way a petulant child would sound when he's forced to apologize for digging up the neighbor's flower bed.

* * *

1352 hours

"You okay Beckett?" Ryan asks noticing her reserved demeanor as he's driving them back to the station.

"Yeah. I just..." she says almost under her breath still looking out the window.

"What is it?" He asks knowing that she's got something on her mind.

"It's what he said." she answers more clearly. Now turning her attention more to him and the traffic ahead but still lost in thought.

"What, you mean ' _Oooo oooo I got tackled by Nikki Heat!'_ , that?" he snarks.

She stares at him menacingly, "Has your life insurance been put in Jenny's name yet?"

"That was too funny Beckett." he clucks followed by " _Damn!_ You're going to be putting up with this for a long time."

"Shutup." she snaps lightly. "No, he said that his lawyer worked for the father of one of the kids in his dorm. The same group who he stole the identities from. And he said he's never been out of state but the agreement he signed for that lawyer put him on the hook for those murders which were in Arizona. Sounds like a classic case of the little guy getting trampled by someone else's agenda." she explains while her mind is running over the facts again. "I would start looking into who's identities were stolen and follow the money." she says thinking out loud.

Recognizing the serious nature of the discussion he drops the jokes. "I'd like to say something like 'It's none of our business.' but I know you better than that. What do you want to do about it?"

"Not much we can do." she says with a shrug of her shoulders. "It occurred in Ohio and went federal. I'm going to talk to Gates about it when we get back just to see what she thinks. I also gave him the name and address of the Justice Initiative. Maybe he can petition them to look into his case." she muses.

Their conversation is cut off by Ryan's phone ringing. In a well practiced motion he pulls it from his pocket, swipes his thumb over it to answer it and activate the speakerphone then drops it on the dashboard.

"Bro! That freakin' video is awesome! Beckett looked so smooth doin' that. It must be doing wonders for her fan club!" the disembodied voice of an exuberant Javier Esposito echos around the car.

"Dude. You are _so_ screwed." Ryan says quietly to a long quiet pause from the phone.

"She's there isn't she." Javi finally asks knowing he's just poked the proverbial bear.

With a bright and happy sound to her voice she chimes in with "Why yes _**she**_ is Detective Esposito." then chuckling "Well Detective Ryan it seems that you won't be lonely doing the inventory of the evidence cold storage locker."

" _Bro!_ Why didn't you warn me?" Esposito lambastes his partner.

"Didn't get the chance Javi. You ran right into it." he grumbles.

"Ahem... Hi Beckett." He says trying to recover.

"Javi! Long time no talk! How the hell ya been there buddy?" She says brightly imparting the unspoken menace of her glare to him through the phone.

"Dude, we are so screwed." Ryan says to no one in particular but obviously meaning himself and his partner.

His voice full of mirth "Y'know what Ryan? I don't care. That freakin' video was awesome." the Hispanic detective says. "Hey! Has Castle seen it yet?"

"Javier. _Please_ shut up." Ryan pleads.

"Hell no! In for a penny in for a dollar. We're already screwed, we might as well have some fun with it." the chipper voice echos.

"So much for getting out of this alive." Ryan mumbles more quietly.

"What's that you said Detective Ryan?" Beckett says loudly leaning into his side of the car and cupping her hand around her ear to accentuate the situation. "You said you really don't want to work the Macy's parade route without your partner? Excellent! Your wish is my command." she crows happily.

"Beckett, seriously, have you talked to your dad yet?" Javier asks causing Ryan to hope that the diversion will save him and his partner the pain of her displeasure.

"No, I haven't gotten to it yet." she says resignedly as she pulls her phone from her pocket. "I might as well get it over with now." she adds as she swipes the phone screen and puts it to her ear.

"Espo. I'm going to let you go." Ryan says. "I'll talk to you later when we're at the station." He finishes by reaching up and hitting the button on his phone to end the call.

"Hi dad." Kate says sounding bright hearing him answer.

"Katie! What a surprise." then turning serious "Everything okay?"

"Yeah dad, everything's fine. Just wanted to give you a call."

 _"Hello there Mister Beckett!"_ Ryan calls out loudly in the background.

"Is that Kevin Ryan? Tell him I said hello back."

She turns a little and says past her phone "My dad says hi back." then back into her phone "Been busy dad?"

"Katie." he states in a flat monotone.

Trying to sound as innocent as she can she answers "What? I can't just call my dad in the middle of the day for no reason just to say hello?"

"Katie." he repeats flatly. "Come on. Spill."

"Daad." She groans a little. "Well. Where to start?" she says trying to choose her words carefully. "Well, it's nothing bad..."

"What'd you do Katie?" he asks like he's waiting for her to fess up to the principal.

"Well. Kevin and I were at the airport for a..." she pauses trying to avoid the worst of it.

" _Mister Beckett, she's trying to avoid saying that she got sent on a rookie level job."_ her partner calls out looking to help her downplay the situation she got herself into.

She gives Ryan a thumbs up in thanks for the effort.

"Why'd your captain do that to you? Katie. Did you do something wrong?" he scolds almost but with a light teasing edge to it.

"No no dad. Good grief. We didn't do anything wrong. We were just the unlucky ones that, as she put it, lost the coin toss."

She can hear him smiling and leaning back in his office chair. "Oh okay. So go on. You were at the airport."

"Yeah, so um... We were at the airport and..."

"One second Katie I just got an email from my assistant."

"Dad?"

"Lemme look at this Katie." he says assuming its important.

"No! Dad! Before..."

" _ **Katherine! Houghton! Beckett!**_ " he bellows giving his daughter a quick flashback to when she was fourteen and caught coming in after curfew with alcohol on her breath and a hickey on her neck.

"Dad." she sighs shrinking down into the seat.

Next to her Ryan whispers "He saw it?" to which she nods dejectedly. She covers the phone and whispers "I just got full named."

"Ohhh... Damn." Ryan cringes.

"What the heck happened?" her father demands, concern obvious in his voice.

"Dad, it's really not what it looks like."

Snapping quickly he states "It looks like a big aggressive guy attacked you and you threw him to the ground."

"Um... He wasn't that big."

" _Katherine!_ " he snaps making her involuntarily duck her head into her shoulders.

"I know dad. I'm sorry." she cringes "I was trying to reach you before you saw it."

"Katie, what's your aunt going to say when she sees this? And you _know_ she's going to see it any time now."

"I might have to turn off my phone if I want to get any sleep tonight." she moans half to herself.

"That won't help, she'll call me. And you _know_ how well _those_ conversations go."

"I'm sorry dad. I'll call her in a little while and talk to her."

"Please do." he sighs as he looks at the picture of his daughter kneeling on a guy's back frozen on the paused video.

 _"Hey Mister Beckett, did you see her with her legions of fans?"_ Ryan throws out in an effort to distract him and get her out of the hot seat.

"What's he talking about Katie." he asks still sounding distracted.

"Well, before all that happened..."

"You mean before you got assaulted by some big guy? What is he, some mob enforcer or something?" he asks truly worried.

"No dad. Sheesh. He's just a kid involved in some white collar crime." she says hoping to placate him. "Anyway, while we were sitting in the airport Ryan got in a conversation with a group of women who are part of a murder book club."

"And let me guess." he says finally smiling again. "They recognized you?"

Sheepishly she confirms it. "Exactly. Made a big fuss and everything. No doubt Castle will be sending you the photos so don't worry, you won't miss anything."

"Y'know Katie, after the time you spent modeling I'd have thought you'd gotten over some of that shyness." he chips-in furthering her embarrassment.

"Daaad!" she groans rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah, you don't like being reminded of that." he snarks. "Oooops. Sorrr-eee. Foor-got." he says singing out the words teasingly.

"I doubt it." she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm, before she continues. "So anyway. We spent about an hour there with these folks. They weren't as bad as some of the others have been but it's still a weird feeling."

"I'm sure it is." he says sounding distracted.

"Dad. Close that website. You don't need to look at that." she calmly says knowing that he's still got her frozen image on the screen.

"I don't know if I should be panicked or proud." he mulls quietly.

"Really dad. It's nothing. I didn't even get a scratch."

" _Katie! That's not..._ " her father snaps angrily before he collects himself "I know." he says taking another deep breath "I know what you do can be dangerous. I'm sorry but I really think I'd be better of not seeing these things most of the time."

"I know dad and I _am_ careful and I _try_ to keep you from getting upset."

"I know Katiebug but..."

"I know dad. I'm sorry I make you worry."

"Katie? Do you think I could talk you into what Doctor Parrish suggested? Maybe just do it for your old man, as a favor? Y'know, the part where you just live off his millions?" he asks with a fun lilt to his voice, obviously teasing, trying to let go of his worries.

"Daaaaaaad..." she groans smiling.

Cutting her off in mid rebuke he says "One sec Katie, my assistant sent me another email but this time she's smiling like the Cheshire cat through the window at me. Can I look at what she gave me or will this upset me too?"

Crossing her fingers she squeezes her eyes shut and tells him, sounding as positive as she can, "I think it'll be okay, its probably the other photos."

"Oh Katie-bug!" he exclaims causing her to release the breath she's been holding. "This is _hilarious_." he says laughing.

"Geeze dad. I don't think they're that funny." she says scolding him but holding the phone away from her ear and sharing a look with Ryan who can also hear her father's laughter.

"Oh this is precious. You go and drop that guy like it's nothing and then you have this absolutely terrified look on your face when confronted with these women." he continues laughing.

"Dad." she says evenly putting the phone back to her ear. "I am not _terrified_ by them." to a snort from Ryan next to her whom she gives another whack to.

"No Katie. I know your faces. That's the terrified one!" He roars again and starts to cough from the unusual exertion. She looks at Ryan and draws a line down from her eye with her finger and he nods in understanding that he's crying from the laughter.

"Dad." she dead-pans. When he doesn't stop laughing " _Dad_." she says more emphatically. Finally, sounding angry _"Daad!"_ she says trying to get his attention.

"Oh god Katie-bug. This is wonderful. It almost makes up for that video."

"Oh good." she thinks to herself.

"Almost."

"Damn." she thinks. "Dad. Listen. I just wanted to talk to you before you saw that. We're heading back to the precinct house so we're going to have to get back to work."

"Okay Katie." he says still giggling. "You do that. We'll talk tonight after you call your aunt. I'm not answering my phone until then."

Sounding almost like she got told to go to her room she finishes up "Yes dad. I will call her. I'll talk to you tonight. Love you."

"Love you too Katie!" he says cheerily as the call ends.

After a long pause Ryan looks over at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah." she sighs. "Thanks for the help. He gets so crazy when stuff like that happens."

"Can't blame him. I would too."

"I know."

Just then her phone starts to play some strange song she's not familiar with. Looking at the phone in her hand she sees Rick's face smiling up at her. She lets out yet another long sigh. "I'm gonna get him one of these days." Then looking at Ryan as he drives she just confesses "Really, one day, he'll change my ringtone and I'll just throw some itching powder in his shorts." she adds as she flips her thumb over the phone and puts it to her ear. "I was just telling Ryan about my plans to torture you if you keep changing my ringtones."

"Aw come on babe! You love my spontaneity and unpredictability!" he chortles.

Smiling at him, she knows it's true but fights hard to keep from letting on. "What do you want Rick, going to torment me with some more pictures?" she asks biting her lip to keep from smiling so that he can't hear it.

"Your dad saw it huh?" he says solemnly.

She softens quickly "Yeah. He wasn't happy as you can imagine."

"How bad?"

"Used my first name."

"Ouch!"

"And middle."

"Oh crap. I guess we'll have to spend some quality time with him to get his mind off of it. I'm sorry." he tells her sincerely.

"Then he saw the other photos." she offers.

"Ah good!" He adds cheerily again.

"Not 'Ah good!' Castle! He... Wait.. _You_ sent them to him?" she challenges.

"Yeah. I knew you wouldn't want me to but I knew that video would hit a little too close to home and the photos with those women would cheer him up. I know you'd be mad but I was more concerned about him seeing that video before you got a chance to talk to him."

Conceding the point she admits "I should be mad but you're right."

His inner child wants to use that confession to tease her some more but he switches gears, "Hey, what happened with Paula? She seemed to be out of sorts after she talked to you."

"When I was talking to her the prisoner acted up and I had to go yell at him to calm him down but I forgot to mute my phone so she heard it." Kate explains.

"Oh!" Rick says the significance of the incident clear. "That'll do it. She doesn't really understand what you do day-to-day, I keep the conversations pretty loose and non-specific when we talk about it."

"She sounded it. I tried to simply explain it but I could tell she was taken by surprise by the whole thing."

His voice full of mirth soothes her nerves as he explains "Yeah well... She came over to me, stood there quiet and motionless staring at me for a few seconds, looked me squarely in the eye and said 'You are a brave man Richard Castle' and then walked away."

Smiling wide at the humor she asks concerned "You didn't go after her?"

"No, I watched her for a minute. I was still finishing up here. She got a bottle of water and had a swig of it then she seemed to settle down and came back to talk to me about business. I left it alone for now." he tells her.

Glancing at her watch curiously "Still finishing up? I thought you were supposed to have been done an hour ago?" she asks.

"You know me. The line kept coming and I won't turn anyone away." he says. She knows his dedication to his fans is strong and he'll make sure he thanks every one of them that showed up.

"Yeah, I know you." she softly says with a smile into the phone.

"Come on you two!" Ryan calls out. "Get a room!"

"Shut up Ryan" Kate tells him with Rick saying the exact same thing at the exact same time making Kate smile.

"Hey, not that I don't want to talk but they're trying to close up here. They have to put things back. Give me a call when you get off work?" he says as she can hear him moving around.

"I will babe." she says smiling. "Love you."

"Love you too." he says back to her, the depth of the statement still giving her a little thrill even after all this time as they close the call and she sits there grinning absently.

"Beckett..." Ryan says idly. "Na, never mind."

"Don't give me that Kevin Ryan, you're worse with Jenny." Kate smirks looking back out the window. "Hey, head for Remy's, we'll get some lunch to go. I'm starving. I'll even treat."

"I'll take a free meal." he says happily.

"Okay, the usual?" she says pulling out her phone and hitting the speed dial.

Smiling he hits the directional and takes a side street. "Yup. Talked me into it. Oh yea, chocolate shake. I got a hankerin' for one." he adds.

* * *

Just past 2 in the afternoon in some other city.

"Paula? What's going on?" Rick asks truly surprised as he gets into the back seat of the town car while the driver holds the door for him.

The usual hyperactive agent sits quietly in the seat on the other side of the car for a moment then softly she asks "Rick. Is that really ' _nothing_ ' for her?" making air quotes to emphasize the word.

He sits back relaxing now that he knows it's not a serious problem. "Well, yes, actually it is." he says with a smile. "Paula, you've known me for a long time and you know almost all there is to know about me and my life. Hell you probably have a more accurate count and list of the number of women I've slept with than I do. However, the life of Kate Beckett I've not let you into by design."

"But.." she starts, eager to correct her client's misconceptions as the car pulls away.

"Let me finish please." he says firmly. "First off are you heading to the airport from here?" he asks.

"Um... Yes. I have my bag in the trunk. I was going to take the car after we drop you off. Why?"

"I want to talk to you about this." He grins. Reaching up pressing the intercom button for the driver he instructs "Please take us to the airport to drop off Ms Hass." then releases it. Almost immediately they feel the car's movements change as the driver follows his instructions.

"Paula, I've made a point of not telling you more than the most rudimentary aspects of her life because, quite frankly, I don't want to use it for my own gain and there's no reason to expose you to more of what goes on in her world."

Pausing for a moment he carefully considers how to proceed. "There is a great deal more to the question ' _Who is Detective Katherine Beckett'_ than I'm going to cover in this conversation. I'm going to bring to light only one aspect of her as a cop and what she does. What I'm going to tell you now applies to all cops, not just her."

Looking unusually serious for the millionaire playboy of page six, the solemn business man and concerned father comes to the fore. Rick begins "Paula, those people I'm around every day, Kate, Javier Esposito, Kevin Ryan, and the others, including Lanie Parish do jobs that you and I could never imagine. What I wrote in my books before I met Kate was based on what I learned from research and by asking others _and I was good at it_." he says emphatically "I got you to _feel_ and almost _taste_ the nitty gritty aspects of the acts of the killer and the hideous aftermath that Storm had to wade through. I could, using those very same skills describe, in _great_ detail and with _amazing_ insight, the process of giving birth to a child. Even my experience as a father, there for the birth of his own child helps me in that regard. But all of that still won't be the same as what you, as a woman, will experience as you carry, nurture and then push forth a new life into the world."

Her mind racing again, she tries to interject "Ricky."

"No Paula, you're going to hear me out on this." he says firmly surprising himself a little and startling his agent by this unusually serious side of her client. Putting his bent leg on the seat and turning more towards her as limited by the seat-belt he continues gently. "Despite all my skill and ability, I cannot even _begin_ to explain to you the job those people do much less do their efforts any justice. And not just them, I've seen, up-close the work our fire departments and bomb squads do too and I cannot tell you how mind-bogglingly different their lives really are than we, on the outside can understand." Turning thoughtful and reflective, his voice lower and more serious now he tells her "I have stood there, in preparation for an armed assault with people who have called me a friend, putting on a bullet-resistant vest with these cops. My hands shaking almost uncontrollably thinking my heart was going to explode from the way it was beating while these people prepared to face, not just what the news would call _'heavily armed men'_ , but cold blooded merciless killers, determined to escape justice at _any and all_ cost and who's only compunction about shooting someone is that it'll cost them money out of their own profits to pay for the bullets they fire. During these preparations these otherwise ordinary people _joke_ about if they'd have to go home to face mowing the lawn the next day! Sometimes arguing that what they're preparing to do is less daunting than having to go to a parent teacher conference. Paula, what you saw Kate do in that little video was nothing more than a light training exercise, hell, call it mild practice."

Calming himself, he looks unfocused out the window next to her and gently continues his explanation to her. "You already know Kate's been through hell and back but you can't imagine what goes on behind those beautiful eyes of her's. She gets dressed in the morning and looks into the mirror, primping to look presentable as an adult professional woman just the same as you do. Truly, nothing different in those actions. However, when she's finished doing that, instead of leaving for work like you would, she, like millions of other cops, will then clip on her belt a badge that means she's taken a solemn oath. An oath that is stronger than most marriages, one that she pledged her _very life_ to. It is also an oath that has no beneficiary."

Smiling at his agent's confused look he explains to her "When I got married, I gave an oath to my wife. Okay, wive _S_ " he says rolling his eyes reluctantly emphasizing the plural "I looked them in the eye and I spoke directly to _her_. I pledged myself to _her_. I said that my pledge was to _her_ and _her alone_. The oath Kate and every other cop takes is to _everyone_ else _except_ for themselves. It is to a nameless, faceless person whom she's never met and, if all goes right, will never know she exists. That oath is not as simple as to love, honor, and respect. The oath she took is to _protect at any cost_ the lives of those people she's never met and to _hunt_ down the guilty to bring them to justice."

Taking a cleansing breath he calmly continues explaining to her "Then this woman, this remarkable woman whom I've inadequately described as extraordinary," he says with a hitch in his voice, pooling wetness in his eyes and a tightening of his throat "she, like every other cop, every morning, will also clip on her belt a small but powerful machine. A weapon. A handgun that holds seventeen pieces of explosively propelled death who's _sole purpose, by design,_ refined over decades of evolution, is to rip apart anything it hits. There is no shoot to disarm or shoot to wound like you see in movies. When that weapon is pulled, its task is singular. To destroy. _To. Kill_." he says the last two words individually and with impassioned emphasis. "She does this thing every single day in the _sincere_ hope that she never has to use it. However, she, like all those other cops is prepared to do so if called upon. Through years of dedication and training she, like those others who wear a badge, is willing to put herself in a position between innocence and the horrible darkness of injustice and death. Where, to protect the innocent as well as the likes of you and me, she will, if forced to, with only a gentle squeeze of that trigger, take from someone all hope of, or any chance for, change, contrition or atonement. Where she will intentionally sacrifice a piece of her mind, heart, soul, in short, her very being, in order to protect these nameless others, by killing someone's child, husband, mother, father, wife, brother, sister or friend to honor that pledge she gave to all of us _in absentia_ in order to wear that badge."

As he finishes his statement, the only sound that can be heard is the humming of the tires on the road. After another moment of heavy silence he gently says "So, to answer your question Paula. Is dropping a shackled prisoner who's trying to run away and kneeling on his back to hold him nothing to her? Yes. That really is nothing to her." and he gently turns back to face forward in his seat. "And by the way? Starting salary for a cop is about the same as for our driver here."

There's a suffocating quiet in the car as they ride along. He can tell Paula's absorbing all that he said and wildly trying in vain to gain purchase on it. He absently looks out the window thinking, for probably the millionth time, that there _has_ to have been some sort of cosmic screw-up, a proverbial rift in the space-time continuum, a rent between heaven and hell that permits him to be friends with someone like Kate Beckett much less to be able to tell her he loves her and for her to return that feeling. A small tear falls from his eye, the overflow of the joy, bewilderment and love he feels for her. The last woman he'll ever give his own oath to. The one. The one for whom all the others were unintentional rehearsals for.

"Richard." the little woman says quietly and unsure.

"Hmmm?" he asks turning his attention back to her.

She looks at him with naked awe. "Richard, I had no idea."

"I know Paula and it's not your fault. Like I said, I've never let you into her life." he says patting her hand and smiling gently at her as the silence engulfs them again.

The two ride along, each with their own thoughts. Her's a maelstrom of thoughts of awe, astonishment and conflicting emotions, too many to grasp yet. The only indication of its enormity being her uncharacteristic stillness and silence.

His thoughts are, yet again, on what he can do to be worthy of the love and affection Kate has shown him. "Wanna know what _really_ scares Kate Beckett?" he suddenly asks quietly with a mischievous grin still absently looking at the passing city.

"I can't believe there's anything that scares her after what I saw and what you just told me." Paula laughs softly.

Smiling wryly he says "Remember that benefit we went to a couple of weeks ago? She had that long silver gown on?"

"Yeah, I remember that. She was gorgeous, quite possibly the talk of the night. She out shone a number of those so called super models that where there. Hell, she looked so hot that she almost made me want to bat for the other team. I don't think I saw a bad picture taken of her for that entire night." she says remembering the occasion.

Almost laughing now, he tells her "Before we left the loft that night, she asked me to go alone and say that she was too sick to attend."

"She was sick? I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"No Paula, she wasn't sick, she was terrified. She wanted to throw up." he tells her as he looks out his window again. "When she dropped that guy in the video, she probably didn't even get a spike in her heartbeat. When we were in the elevator going down to the car that night I could feel her heartbeat _in her hand_ past her trembling it was so bad."

As they arrive at their destination, still lost in their own worlds, Rick shakes it off like he has done so many other times, opens the door and exits the car to let Paula out.

"Rick." she says sounding a bit brighter but still very subdued as she gets out of the car. She walks right up to him, only a couple of inches from him and puts her hand on his chest almost to his shoulder and quietly tells him "Ricky, I don't know what to say. I think I understand better why you wouldn't want to have told me all of this. Of course I will respect your wishes about it this but it still is going to take me some time to really..." she trails off, her words failing.

"I know Paula." he tells her gently as he puts his hands on her shoulders. "I really do understand. The awesome enormity of it is daunting even for me and I see it every day. Don't be hard on yourself. It shouldn't be easy for you or any normal person to grasp." Then he gives her shoulders a gentle shake "Come on there Paula, where's that crazy broad I hired to represent me?" he says humorously to snap her out of her funk.

She smiles up at him and brightens. She grabs his lapels and gives him one of her usual pecks on the lips before letting him go. "Alright Ricky." she smirks as she grabs the handle of her suitcase the driver placed next to her "You be good and don't give my assistant too much trouble or you'll have to answer to me." Her foot raised for her first step and suddenly she stops, her face drops and she looks at Castle with awe and understanding. " _Now I get it!_ My god Ricky, no wonder nothing Gina or I can say really scares you." she announces shaking her head as she departs into the crowd at the terminal.

Castle watches her retreating back with a wry smile before he tells the driver "Back to my hotel please." and crawls into the back of the car again.

* * *

1452 Hours

"Hey Beckett. Hey Ryan." the desk sergeant says to them absently as they pass and return a wave.

As the doors to the elevator close and they begin the ride up she takes a draw of her strawberry shake and idly says "Maybe I got lucky and no one knows about..." as the doors open she's greeted by another bout of raucous cheers and applause from the bull-pen.

"Spoke too soon Beckett." Ryan says trying to hide behind her as they head for their desks.

The noise dies down quickly and they deposit their things on their desks.

"Gimme your vest, I'll put it in the locker." he says holding out his hand.

While taking off her windbreaker and vest she says I'll take the tasers back." to him. They do a quick swap one-for-one and both head off in opposite directions.

A few minutes later they're back at their desks, unpacking their lunches when Captain Gates heads over to Beckett's desk with her eyes in a folder. "Everything go okay Beckett?" she asks coolly.

"Ah sure. Everything went off without a hitch." Kate answers not sure if Gates is aware of the mini-media circus she was at the center of.

"Good good." she says starting to turn.

"Oh, Sir." Beckett says drawing her back. "I wanted to talk to you about this guy's case if you've got a moment."

"What about it Detective?" the captain asks closing the folder and giving her her full attention.

"This kid's sheet says he's a small time college student who ripped off some identities and I-Ds and then there's that thing about him being involved in the murder of members of a biker gang. After my short time talking to him, it doesn't feel right."

"Go on." Gates says folding her arms across her chest and encouraging her top detective.

"He admitted to me that he was stupid and did the identity theft thing but he told me that he had nothing to do with the biker murders. He said that his lawyer was provided _pro bono_ by the father of one of the kids in his dorm." she tells her boss in the usual cold detached manner they usually discuss case in "I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the kid was one of the ones who had his identity stolen. He claims that he was so scared that he just signed whatever the lawyer put in front of him and later on found out that he'd confessed to the murders." she explains then turning a little pensive she continues "I got a funny feeling when I was talking to him, it sounds very much like this kid is being railroaded by someone. I know we can't look into it but I didn't know if you could talk to anyone about it. I at least gave him the name of the Justice Initiative."

Taking her glasses off, the captain ponders for a moment. "Detective Ryan." she snaps "What's your opinion of this situation?"

Getting up and walking around to lean on Javi's desk, closer to and facing the two women he says "To tell you the truth Captain, I didn't get to talk to him as much as Beckett did but I felt something was wrong too. I can't put my finger on it but he really struck me as the kind of kid who was more worried about getting his date home on time instead of masterminding the kind of murders his sheet describes. I know to trust Beckett. If she says her gut feeling is that something's not right I'll back her up on it without question." he finishes.

"Okay, you two," the captain says in a clipped manner, "give me quick summary reports covering any salient points you think might help. Have them on my desk in the next twenty minutes." as she puts her glasses back on. Then giving a small smile she adds "This might just be a good excuse to call my sister and say hello."

Beckett and Ryan, almost in unison, echo "Yes Sir." to her order.

Then, just as she starts to turn to leave Gates quietly says to Beckett "Your dad okay?"

Quickly Kate answers "Yes. Why?" with a slight panic rising in her.

As she parts she says with a sly grin over her shoulder "I'd hate to see a video like that with _my_ child in the starring role." and disappears into her office.

The _thud_ let off by Kate plopping her head down on her desk was loud enough for a number of the current occupants of the bull-pen to glance in her direction before she sat back rubbing her forehead and cursing her distance miscalculation. Ryan, walking around his desk again, has his back to her but she still knows to call out "Wipe that smirk off your face." without even looking around.

Kate's built in time-sense tells her that Esposito should be showing up soon so she unlocks her desk and pulls open the big drawer on her right by an inch or so to prepare for his entrance. Her little inner voice telling her "Castle's not even noticed it missing yet so he couldn't have warned anyone." as she returns to her lunch smiling.

Purposefully, with a practiced familiarity, Kate punches a few keys on the computer, brings up a report form and starts to fill it out reciting her opinion and observations of the principle of the discussion while she slowly nibbles on the french fry between her lips that is getting shorter and shorter. She hears Ryan breath "Bro." and she notices, in the periphery of her vision, Espositio coming her direction across the bull-pen from the stairway trying to not be noticed by skipping the elevator.

 _ ***** THWOCK *** *** THWICK *****_

The sound of the Nerf dart being shot from the brightly colored toy gun she stole from Castle's collection and the satisfying sound of it hitting and sticking to the forehead of the usually stoic detective was overshadowed and made all the more hilarious by the high-pitched girlish scream Esposito let out as he dropped to the floor in panic with the bright pink suction cup dart stuck to his forehead.

Beckett calmly puts the toy back in her desk drawer while the place erupts in hysterics at Javi's expense. As the laughter, hoots and hollers die down as quickly as they started, Beckett calmly says "Oh! Espo! I didn't know you were there!"

He picks himself up with as much dignity as he can while staring daggers at her. Brushing himself off he reaches up and snaps the dart from his forehead with a determined motion producing a loud _pop_ , all while continuing to glare at her and then he storms to his desk. "You're not getting this back." he says mumbling sternly.

"That's okay." she smirks happily as she turns back to her computer "It's Castle's and he's got more of them. The bad part is now I have to find a new toy to torture you guys with." she offers absently as she resumes her typing.

She smiles wide because she can hear the boys behind her whisper yelling at each other across their desks and occasionally the admonishments "Dude!" and "Bro!" being loud enough to be clearly heard.

During their heated exchange, Karpowski goes over to their desks and interrupts. "Hey Ryan, here's that case file you wanted... Espo, you've got a round thing... on your forehead." she says making a circular motion towards her forehead.

Nope. Couldn't do it. She tried. She really tried. Okay, maybe not _really_ tried but Beckett _did_ make an effort to not laugh hysterically at the scene she knows played out behind her back. The "Ppffffttttt" she let lose still contained enough strawberry shake to require some mop up but not nearly as much as it could have.

She hears a low growling from Esposito followed by something in Spanish and she giggles more knowing that the game they play is all in fun.

* * *

1627 Hours

Her desk phone rings piercing her intense concentration on the evidence from a cold case she has been looking through. She snatches the receiver up and hooks it on her shoulder. "Beckett" she says mechanically.

"You had better have a _damn_ good reason for not telling me about this yourself!"

Grinning at her friend's reaction she snarks back "And a good day to you Doctor Parish." then more quietly "Just as a warning, you may have to get your beau some clean underwear."

"Don't give me that sass Kather..." she starts out haughtily then she suddenly asks switching attitudes "Javi? Why?"

"Seems he doesn't do well with surprises, that's all. He'll tell you all about it later." Kate says humorously to her friend while she shuffles the papers on her desk.

"What'd you do to my boy?" the M-E demands.

"Nothiiing." The detective says humorously singing out the word. "So, how's your day amongst the dead going?"

"We'll get back to that later then. We're doing fine down here thank you. None of my clients have filed complaints about me yet so that's good. Those pictures Castle sent were great. You gonna make holiday cards out of them?" her friend says relaxing on the other end.

"You are an infuriating woman, do you know that?" Beckett groans into the phone.

"Oh I know. It's a natural skill. That and turning a busy barroom full of women into a sty of grunting haters with just a look." the ever self-confident doctor replies. "But enough about how awesome I am. How awesome are you sweetie?"

"Just the usual amount. Ryan and I only got back, what, an hour and a half ago, now it's shovel the paper pile time." she answers back while continuing with her tasks.

She can hear the doctor's smile through the phone "Where's writer boy at today?"

" _A-hem!"_ Beckett coughs as a warning into the phone.

"Sorry, writer _man_." Lanie corrects. "Don't get in my face over that toots! Remember, _I'm_ not the one he constantly emphasizes the difference to."

The uncontrollable smile that breaks on Kate's face is wide and very happy.

"I can hear you smiling from here girl-friend." the M-E laughs.

"No you can't" she says trying and failing to school her features to keep from being obvious in the bullpen.

"You tell yourself that if it helps you sleep at night." Lanie laughs.

"I wish it would." Kate sighs.

Hearing the touch of anguish in her voice she worries about her friend "Still can't sleep without him huh?" she asks genuinely concerned.

Oddly enough, the kind and warmhearted woman on the other end of the line can tell that the brunette silently shook her head with a slightly sad look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry honey."

"Me too but it pays the bills." Kate answers quietly then groans at the bizarre sound of that statement about a multi-millionaire best selling author needing to work to pay his bills.

Brightening up quickly her friend hits on an idea "How would you like it if I came over, brought some of that Thai food you fancy along with another bottle of that Australian wine you liked so much? I'm finishing pretty early down here and could meet you at your place. Is Martha or Alexis going to be around?"

"You know what? That sounds like a damn good idea. Thank you Lanie." Kate says sounding buoyed by the idea of a good meal and some familiar company. "Actually, we have a treat if you want. Martha got me a pre-release _auto-graphed"_ saying it cutely as two syllables and rolling the 'r' "copy of the DVDs for the latest season of Temptation Lane, we could do a bit of binge watching. We'll have the place to ourselves for a while."

"Could you ever have imagined that you'd have trouble sleeping 'cause your boyfriend isn't around?"

Quietly the stalwart detective agrees with the sentiment. "Yeah. I know."

"Oops, my mistake again there Miss Beckett. Your _MAN_ -friend. Sorry, your _MAN-_ friend Richard Freakin' Castle, the ex-playboy dandy of Page Six." she says with great amusement in her voice.

Smiling really wide and happily Kate glances around her immediate area and almost whispers "Don't you think I still find it as amazing as everyone else?" to her friend.

Just then the Captain walking by pauses and drops a paper on Kate's desk saying "New line up. Sorry Detective, small change in the rotation. You and your team are going to be on backup duty tonight so get out of here early." before she continues through the bullpen passing out the modified schedule.

"Lanie." Kate sighs. "I just..."

"I heard. So I'll bring some some of that no alcohol beer you like. That'll work with the food, T-V and company." her friend answers.

"Don't know what I'd do without you Doctor."

"Don't ever try to find out honey 'cause then you'll have no one to complain to." the smirk and wide effervescent smile coming right through the wire.

"Okay I can't afford that. See you at my place shortly." she laughs as she ends the call.

"Ryan, you and the human target, call it quits early. We're on backup call." she says without turning around but knowing the look Esposito is giving her.

"I knew it was too quiet around here." he groans. "Jenny wanted a nice quiet evening."

* * *

1724 Hours

"Thanks for this Lanie." the detective says as she unlocks the door to her home. "I've been in need of a diversion and this is perfect." she finishes as she swings the door to the loft open for them.

Quickly going to the counter and depositing her bag of food the doctor doffs her coat and continues their conversation "So, how long until your writer returns?"

"He's got a couple of more days before he's back. He said it's not as bad as it usually is but they've been keeping him busy." Beckett says putting her gun and badge in the safe and toeing off her shoes.

Smiling the M-E declares "Well sweetie, operation 'distract Kate' has begun. However that nasty trick you played on Javi should get you punished, not rewarded. You get the afghans out on the couch and I'll get the food out. Do you have a tray we can put it all on?"

"Oh? What'd he tell you? Mmm... smells good!" the brunette announces as she walks across the room. "In the bottom cabinet to your left... no, the other left... the tall... yeah, that one." she calls out as she unwraps a colorful afghan on the couch in front of the big TV. "I'll set up a tray table. Anyway I got punished twice today. I had to call my dad and he saw the video while I was talking to him." Kate says disappearing into the office.

Picking up a tray of food and heading for the living room the doctor tells her "Javi said you tried to scare him with a little toy gun and got mad when it didn't work."

"Here, put it here." she says putting the table up in front of the couch quickly for her friend holding the food. "Oh it worked. It worked great. You should have heard him scream. Right up there with the twelve-year old girl at horror move level."

"You're mean. I wish I'd seen it. I'll let him have his story and won't argue." Chewing on a small piece of food caught between her lips Lanie mumbles and switches the topic back "So, you were saying your dad saw it?"

"Oh god Lanie." she moans "I tried to reach him before he saw it but his secretary forwarded on the link to him while I was on the phone with him. I couldn't stop him."

"How bad was it? Damn! What is this thing here?" she asks pointing to a container on the tray her beautiful dark skin turning pretty maroon as she fans herself because of the spice.

"Lanie. I gave up trying to keep track of some of these things." she laughs pulling out the DVD package. "He's one of Rick's guys and he doesn't tell me all of what he gives us and a good bit of it isn't even on the menu, he makes it special for us. If you really want, I can ask him next time I see him. Anyway, wanna know how bad was it? All. Three. Names."

"Na don't bother. You'll just have to order for me from now on." she laughs as her temperature returns to normal. "Oh that's not good. Three names means months of groveling. You said twice, what was the other." she says twisting her mouth in sympathy.

"Yeah, and then I had to call my aunt Theresa. Dad said he wasn't going to answer his phone until I did it."

Cracking open a bottle and taking a swig to wash down some food the doctor asks "Theresa, she's the crazy Facebook one right? How was she?"

"That's the one. It took about ten minutes. All of which was her going on about... actually I don't remember. I tuned her out pretty quickly. I knew what she'd be like so I just used it as an excuse to walk to the records room and turn in some files and pick up others." Kate says laughing.

"So, come on, tell me about the group with the tee shirt." Lanie begs enthusiastically.

"They are part of a library book club specializing in murder mysteries." Kate tells her as she steps into the bedroom for a minute to change her shirt. "Hey Lanie? Do you want an old shirt to change into so you don't get anything on that one?"

"No, thanks. I'll be careful."

"So anyway, they were going to an organized murder mystery weekend trip and they formed a team and made up the tee shirts with a little logo on it. They called themselves the Homicide Hens and the shirt is a chicken with a magnifying lens and a deerstalker hat."

"That's soo cute!" the effervescent doctor giggles.

"It is. Very nice ladies too. Surprisingly astute." Kate says putting the first DVD disk into the player and grabbing the remote then sitting down cross legged on the couch next to her friend.

"What? You thought they'd be daft old biddies?"

"You know me better than that Lanie." she admonishes. "What I mean is that they understood the procedures and rules of evidence better then some of our CSI's or uni's do."

"Here." the doctor says passing her an edge of the afghan to cover their laps with. "So, that means they know who Nikki Heat is too."

"Oh yeah. They do and damn Ryan couldn't keep his mouth shut! He just _had_ to dive in to their conversation." Kate spits angrily but obviously not really meaning it.

"So, what are you going to do, give him traffic duty?" Lanie laughs covering her mouth.

Smirking, with a satisfied look Kate tells her "I told him that he and Espo can inventory the cold storage locker."

"Like you'd do that to them. Hit play please. If I'm going to hear empty threats, let's get some actors to do it."

"Y'know? I _might_ do it!" Kate snaps defensively as she lifts the remote.

Shaking her black hair vigorously the other woman decries her claims "Please girl! You know you won't. You know it was all fun."

"I know but I'm not going to let them think I'm easy." Beckett gripes as she hits the play button. "When you finish gloating, pass over some of those mushroom things."

The two sit back while munching on their food and enjoy the humor of the show they're watching and making sounds of agreement and disdain as the stories unfold.

"Mmmm... Kate." Lanie says forcing her food down. "Do you have your gun? Would you please shoot that slime ball? His wife doesn't deserve that sort of treatment."

"Uh-huh." the cop disagrees washing her's down with a swig of brew. "That's not his wife, that's his mistress's mistress. Anyway, Castle would be pissed if I broke this TV, he just got it replaced."

"She's who? No? When? How the hell did I miss that? Then who's that guy?" she asks pointing to the screen.

"Lanie." her friend says sounding exasperated "He's the pool boy."

"Pool boy's don't wear suits."

"This one does because that guy's daughter" Kate says lazily pointing to the screen "gave him a job at the company so she can get her itch scratched any time of the day."

"I thought he was sleeping with her mother?" The doctor asks as her enthusiasm for the hijinks begins to wane.

"He is. So's his father and brother." Kate says sleepily as the two lean into each other's shoulders and watch the silliness unfold.

During the break between discs, Kate starts to put away the leftovers and Lanie changes the disc before helping out.

Kate continues on with her story "So, Ryan's laughing. I mean _really hard_ laughing at me. He had tears in his eyes. This kid's in the back bouncing around like he just got told he's won a free trip to Disneyland."

"What'd the marshals say to this?" the doctor asks going to the 'fridge with some containers.

"They didn't know what to make of it. They just thought they'd been transported to the twilight zone. The senior guy said he really needed a drink."

Her friend pauses for a minute before turning around "What was said about Nikki Heat? Ryan told Javi someone said something bad?"

"Oh." Kate says with a little blush. "Yeah, I didn't handle that so well."

"Awright. Juicy details. Spill."

"I ...um... well..." she starts and when she sees the glare she's getting from her friend Beckett sighs and continues "Fine. He said his sister reads that crap. I sorta discussed it with him."

The woman narrows her brown eyes at her friend and waits. She knows there's more to it.

"Okay!" Kate breaks easy. "I sorta told him off and... I... I told him to shut up and not say another word until we got to our destination."

"There, now was that so hard Miss Big Tough Detective?" Lanie smirks.

Giving her friend a brushing sign with her hands to move along she demands "Come on. Get the ice cream out. We've got another disc to finish." while she finishes her own chores with a big grin.

As her friend pulls the tub of ice cream out she's mumbling "Oh big tough detective gets bossy." and laughing. "So." she says plopping a tub of strawberry down on the counter. "You really _are_ protective of Nikki."

"Damnit. Stop that. Yes I am. Only because it's important to Rick. That's all."

"Oh sure. Like _anyone_ will believe that honey."

"Shutup." Beckett snaps harshly but belied by the big grin on her face. "Get some spoons."

* * *

1945 Hours

"I still think he" she says lazily pointing towards the screen "should put out a hit on the other guy." Lanie drawls, her eyes half open.

"Lanie." Kate says firmly. "He did but his wife slept with the hit-man to stop him. Why aren't you paying attention?"

"Then who was the guy in the sewer system with the gun?" she groans as she stretches a little.

Kate thinks before cracking one eye open to look at the doctor "I don't remember that guy."

"Must be all the beer we drank." the doctor sighs sitting up straight now.

"No alcohol, remember?" Kate snarks dismissively.

Smiling, proud of her return, Lanie just says "Must be the good company then."

"Talk about piling it on!" Kate says also leaning back to sit up straight.

"Yeah, well this little kitty has to go home and get some sleep. I've got two court cases tomorrow and then I'm getting a visit from my other favorite detective tomorrow night." she says stretching and forcibly opening her brown eyes wide to wake up fully.

"Is he going to cook for you again?"

Almost in a panic she turns on Kate "Shhhh! I told you that in confidence! No one can know he likes to cook. It'll kill him if that gets out."

Smiling Kate turns softer "Don't worry Lanie. I won't tell. Anyway it's only..."

Their conversation interrupted by the door opening and a haggard looking Martha comes in almost staggering.

"Martha? You alright?" Kate asks concerned as the two friends head for the actress.

"No no. Fine. Just _ex-haust-ed_." she says dramatically. "The wind made a mess of everything in just the short time I walked from the corner to here and I had to chase my scarf. I only just caught it before a truck ran it over." she says holding it in her fist like a trophy.

"Come on Missus Rogers, have a seat." Lanie says taking her by the arm and leading her into the living room.

"I'll have you know young lady I'm not too old to do it myself." Martha scolds as she allows herself to be lead to a seat. Then turning on a helpless persona she sighs "However, if someone could help a poor old lady by getting her a dram of liquid comfort to sooth her soul I'm confident it would secure your place in heaven." she pleads dramatically.

"Right. One large wine coming right up." Kate says laughing.

"And Lanie?" Martha says with a matron's glare as she takes her coat off and sits down to take off her shoes.

Leaning in the doctor, concerned asks "Yes Martha?"

"That's better." she says patting the woman's cheek with a big smile.

"Martha. One red wine." Kate says handing her the glass.

"Thank you dear. I am not accustomed to the evil of drink but my dear doctor has prescribed it for me." she says laughing with the other two.

"Very good Martha." the doctor says picking up her hand by her wrist and and looking at her watch to check the woman's pulse. "Excellent, it's working as it should." she laughs as she stands up. "Ladies, I'd love to hang out longer but I must be off." as she takes Martha's coat from her.

"Oh please don't let me interrupt!" Martha says quickly.

"Thank you but no Martha. Kate and I had just finished watching those Temptation Lane DVDs and I was already getting ready to leave when you got here. I have to get some sleep, tomorrow's a full day." she says putting on her shoes after hanging up Martha's coat.

"As long as you're sure dear. And thank you for the prescription." she says waving her glass of wine with a smile.

"You're very welcome Martha. Just to make it easier for you I gave you unlimited refills on that." she smirks laughing as she goes to the door.

"I'll walk you down." Kate offers as they both go out.

* * *

1952 Hours

When Kate returns to the loft Martha's just finishing off her glass of wine.

"So Martha. You had a tough day? Sorry to hear that." Kate says sitting on the seat across from her. "What happened?"

"Oh nothing but the usual mayhem and angst to be expected from a bunch of actors. But you my dear seem to have had a day too." she smirks lightly.

Groaning through another face-palm Kate sighs "You saw it too? I'll tell you now, I can't wait for this day to end." she says hanging her head in defeat.

"Yes me too dearie. I haven't seen the movie yet but I did hear about it. Richard sent me a couple of snapshots. How did your father take it?"

"Wanna take a guess?"

Leaning in and resting her elbows on her knees the redhead smirks "If it were me, I'd probably go for the full first name."

"Oh no Martha. That'd have been preferable to all three full names. Loud." Kate says sitting back on the couch and crossing her legs resignedly.

"Don't ask me to not agree with him." she smirks. "I can pretty much speak for any parent in this too. However those photos of the group you were with were extremely cute."

"I..." Kate starts and is interrupted by the other redhead coming in.

"Grams! Kate! How lucky am I?" she says looking skyward "Two big stars of screen here in my home." she announces raising her arms out in praise laughing.

"I am sooo screwed." Kate sighs laying her head back and closing her eyes but smiling.

Not one to let a good dig go unused, Alexis dives right in. "Grams, have you seen the newest video on the internet? It's all about how awesome Nikki Heat is."

"Martha?" Kate calls out without looking up "Forget my insistence that you get a D-N-A test on this girl to make sure she's a true Castle."

"Thank you Kate!" Alexis beams as she turns her phone so her grandmother can watch the video.

"Oh dear!" Martha jumps putting her hand over her heart. "What was all that about?"

"Alexis? Did your dad fill you in on that too?" Kate asks.

"No. I actually haven't talked to him today." The girl says sitting on the arm of Martha's chair.

"Well." the detective says sitting up and looking at the pair. "It was a simple prisoner transfer from a federal facility out west. The kid, and I do mean kid, was prone to acting out and just being a pain in the ass. He tried to make a break for it but wasn't getting far."

"Why not? Looked like he got a good start." young Castle asks.

The brunette smiling explains "They have leg shackles on him but on longer flights they take one off so he can move his legs around and while it looked like he'd have gone far, it wouldn't have lasted more than a few steps. However, I had to remind him it wasn't a choice he was allowed to make. Little did I realize it'd be immortalized in perpetuity on the internet alongside all those cute kitty videos."

"Oh and immortalized it is our dear detective." Alexis smirks. "I can't wait to see how the next Nikki Heat release party goes."

Looking at the family matron Kate just flatly says "Yeah, save your money. Skip the test." causing everyone to laugh heartily.

Just then a strange tune can be heard. Kate shakes her head and tells the girl "Your father's sole purpose in life now seem to be making me crazy by changing my ringtones." as she pulls out her phone, swipes to answer and hits the speaker button.

Castle's voice echos "Hey there hot mama! I love it when you get physical! You make me so..."

Smirking Kate cuts him off by simply says "Hey Castle. Here with your mother and daughter and you're on speaker." while smiling at the other two.

There's a pause before he squeaks out a little "Hi."

"Richard." his mother says flatly in greeting.

"Hey there mister smooth." his daughter snarks. "We were just talking about Kate's day but I think the G rating just fell off the marquee. I'm going to go to my room. I have research to do and a brain to bleach." she says getting up and winking at Kate.

"No! You don't have to leave!" he protests.

"Ah Richard. While she may be too young, I'm sure that I'm too old to be privy to such conversations. I think I'll take my leave also. The good doctor recommended some time in bed in addition to my nerve tonic." Martha says standing and winking at Alexis who suddenly had a worried look on her face.

"Doctor? What Doctor? Mother? Are you alright?" the worry in his voice clearly apparent even over the speakerphone.

"Chill Castle. Parish. Lanie was here and suggested that your mother have a glass of wine to sooth her nerves whenever she wants." Kate smiles then turning to the elder woman "I'm not sure I heard that thing about bed rest." she questions, quite assured that she's feeding her the straight line.

"Ah you might be right. Of course, it could be wishful thinking on my part. Either way, adieu dear." she says giving Kate a peck on the cheek.

A knowing smile crosses Alexis face as she tells her grandmother "Knowing Doctor Parish, that's probably _her_ plan to sooth her own nerves but I'm not sure she meant rest really."

"Alexis!" Castle snaps over the phone the smile on his face audible anyway.

"Good night ladies." Kate calls after them then picking up the phone and taking it off speaker she talks to Rick directly.

"So... what did she call you? Oh yeah... Mister Samooooothhh" she draws it out to tease him while she's walking to the bedroom.

"Yeah, well..." is his only reply.

"Yup. Samooooothhh there writer man. So, how's your trip going?" she asks changing subjects.

Feeling put upon he goes into defensive mode "Hey, not just anyone could stumble that well." he tells her authoritatively. It's their thing. Back and forth.

"You keep believing that Rick. Alexis just showed your mother the video. I'm obviously going to be hearing about this for a while. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the attention or even being called Nikki Heat."

His voice full of sympathy he tells her "I'm sorry it bothers you Kate. I really am. I do try to keep it to a minimum."

"I know babe, I know. I'm sorry but it just..."

"Kate. I understand and please don't ever apologize for it. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for."

"Oh yes I do. My dad. I'm sure we're going to have to suck it up to my dad for a few months."

His concern genuine he asks her. "He's okay though right? I worry about that."

"I talked him down. He'll be okay." she tells him as she flops onto the bed letting out a long sigh.

His voice suddenly husky growls "You do that again and I just might be on the next flight home."

With hardly any energy, she just says to him "I'm sorry Rick. I'm just tired. Actually not tired. Just sorta worn out. It's just feels like it has been a long day. I think I owe you an apology too."

"Not likely but I'll never turn one down. Why do you think you owe me one?"

"I kinda forgot what it's like to be the guy on the short end of the chop busting stick. I have to remember today next time we're all picking on you."

"I understand sweetie. I'm sorry. What can I do to help you?" he asks sincerely even though he's hundreds of miles away.

"Castle just your asking helps." she purrs rolling onto her side and putting the phone on speaker next to her.

"I'm glad. I mean it too. I'd be home now if I'd not committed to this."

"I know Rick and I'm not complaining." she smiles with her eyes closed, tucked up into herself, half way to a fetal pose.

"Kate? Why don't you change and get into bed? I'll stay on with you and talk to you." he says sweetly.

Without even moving she counters "Rick, it's okay."

She can see him in her mind's eye laying down at his end of the call and talking to her like she's right there. "Kate. Sweetheart. Please. Change for bed. If you want I'll cover my eyes." She can see him smiling now.

He hears her move. "Okay Castle. Talked me into it but no peeking, I know how you get. Tell me about your day."

"Well, before I do that, do you want to talk about today and all that went on?"

"I'd rather hear about your day. You know most of what went on here and it'll keep, is that okay with you?"

"Of course sweetie." He says before he goes on and regales her in animated detail about his adventures and some of the people he's talked to while she goes about getting undressed. He hears a drawer open and close and thinks she's going for another one of his tee shirts to sleep in. "Can I peek now?" he asks teasing.

Snapping her fingers she says "Too late Castle. I got my shirt on already." him with a big smile.

"Aw damn. I missed all the fun." he says and she can hear him snap his fingers on that side too.

"Tell ya what Rick. When you get home I'll let you peek as much as you want."

"Really?" he sounds almost like he sat up straight at the idea.

"Yes, peek as much as you want but _only_ in our bedroom."

"Okay. Fine. I'll take it. Now go brush your teeth and get back here." he orders.

She pads into the en suite and washes her face and brushes her teeth before coming out to announce it to him "Okay Ricky. All clean and ready for bed." she smirks knowing he wants to be there as much as she wants him to be.

Kate can even hear him smirk as he says "Good. I have a present for you."

She finds herself taking a saucy pose "And how are you going to give it to me?" she challenges.

His voice serious he asks "Kate? Would you like to sleep with me tonight?"

"Duh. Of course." she snaps back the sound of her loneliness unable to be masked.

His voice changes a little "Take off that shirt then." he demands.

She looks around the room wondering if he's hiding somewhere and she hears his disembodied voice tell her "You can stop looking around, I'm not there. Shirt please."

She smiles hard. She loves how together they are. "Okay Ricky, I'll strip for you." and she does a little hip wiggle while stripping the shirt off over her head.

"Love the wiggle there Beckett." he snarks. Causing her to quickly look around again with a more careful eye.

"Okay, so now what?" she demands.

"Go to my side of the bed and reach under the mattress. You'll find a plastic baggie. Take it out and open it."

Wary of his whacky jokes she warns him using her serious tone "This better not be disgusting Castle or I'll shoot you."

"Fear not my most beloved detective. All will be explained momentarily." he says triggering those silly butterflies in her stomach again.

She gets down on her knees next to the bed and reaches under finding a largish plastic baggie. She pulls it out and examines it. "Okay Rick. Plastic zipper baggie. Why's your button down folded in it?"

His voice ragged with emotion he tells her quietly "Kate. Open it, put it on, and go to sleep with me. I have yours here with me too. We'll sleep together. I know how you love that shirt."

Those damn tears of hers can't be stopped as she pulls open the bag zipper and his scent hits her. She sticks her nose into the bag and inhales his aroma.

"I did it too." he whispers.

"What?" she quietly asks taking out the shirt and pulling it on. Her emotions explode with the sensation of him being right there with her.

"Stuck my nose in and sniffed. I have your red shirt you always wear. I took it for when I couldn't stand your absence any longer. That's tonight dear. Now turn out the lights, crawl into bed and sleep thinking of me beside you."

Still pouring tears she does as he asks and keeps wiping her eyes on the sleeve. "Castle. I love you so much." she sobs.

"And I love you sweet Kate. Sleep well and we'll talk in the morning. Good night my love. It is the end of the day and we're together. Always." he says.

She hears his sniffle before the call ends and knows he's as lonely as she is. Her last thought for the night is of cuddling up with him as they go to sleep together.

For the first time since he left on this trip. She sleeps through the night. Content and happy with the sensation of being wrapped in the arms of the man she loves.


End file.
